There’s something surprising and refreshing about Harold Zwart’s ‘Karate Kid’ remake. Something I didn’t really expect. Despite the fact the title character is several years younger than Daniel from the original, and he’s learning kung-fu, not karate, this new film isn’t just a faithful remake, it’s an overall improvement on the first film. Yea, I know. I just put a target on my head as far as most children of the 80’s are concerned.
Here’s the thing, though. Despite Pat Morita’s sweet and endearing performance, and the appeal of the overall story, John G. Avidsen’s 1984 version is a rather clunky film. Macchio is never completely convincing as a harried youth who goes martial arts warrior by the end. His chemistry with Morita is there, but there’s almost none of it when it comes to his relationship with Elisabeth Shue. Martin Kove’s villain is about as obvious as they come, and the movie is painting everything in extremely broad strokes.
Yes, I still find it effective overall. It’s hard not to when you have such an appealing hook and the emotional thrust of Miyagi, the handyman who isn’t just teaching Daniel-san how to fight, but how to live and stand on his own. So, it makes sense when the new version grabs Avidsen’s structure and the central relationship between martial arts master and young boy, and refines it into a story that has all of the emotional beats of the original, but seriously streamlines the cheese.
Jaden Smith is Dre Parker, a kid from Chicago who moves with his mom (Taraji P. Henson) to China where he becomes the target of bullies who terrorize him with martial arts. Making Dre a good bit younger than Macchio in the first picture seems like a strange choice, but it actually ups the impact of the fight scenes instead of diminishing them. Here, when Smith is getting his butt kicked, it looks like it legitimately hurts, and because of his size, Smith has a harder job of making us believe that Dre would ever be capable of fighting back at all. Here, he gives Dre a simple and earnest desire to grow-up and away from the things he can’t control, and I thought his pluck was convincing.
Enter Mr. Han, the rumpled maintenance man who teaches Dre the art of kung-fu, and ultimately how to stand up for himself and those things he believes in. Again, the script has made its job more difficult, because with Dre so young, there’s the issue that he hasn’t exactly discovered what it is he’s fighting for, outside of not taking another beating. In this, way Chan’s Han has an even harder job than Morita’s Miyagi; he’s got to make the relationship convincing enough that we would buy a motivation for Han training a kid this young.
To Jackie’s credit, he nails the role and I personally found his character even more compelling and poignant than Miyagi, although that’s no slight on Morita (who was nominated for an Oscar in 84 for the performance). In truth, it’s a very different approach to the character. Han isn’t a wise old man who is content in what he knows and where he is. There’s sadness and brokenness to his character that actually resonates despite the rather predictable way the screenplay handles it. Chan is a lovable performer, but usually in American films he’s relegated to behaving dopey because that’s what audiences expect from him. He reigns in his charisma and his versatility and replaces them with uncertainty and vulnerability, until of course, the kung-fu comes out. In many ways, just as the original film was Morita’s show, the bulk of this one works because of Jackie and I think it’s easily the best dramatic work he’s done. His chemistry with Smith is strong, and he really sells the back story that the writers have saddled him with. He takes what would be contrivance and makes it work in his favor.
The kung-fu itself is really one of the film’s improvements over the original. All of it looks plausible, and there’s an immediacy and impact to the tournaments that you can feel in your guts. Chan’s style and form, as always, are flawless, but he’s practicing restraint and performance in his technique, and when he’s fighting a gaggle of 13 year olds, it’s not as odd as it would seem to watch him take them down.
The decision to move the film to China is also a good one and it’s probably the best way this new film distinguishes itself from its predecessor. The cinematography is excellent, and there’s a travelogue feel too much of the imagery and footage. This is just a superficial glance at China the country, but thematically it adds a grander sensibility to the movie’s story of renewal and dedication. The technical credits are outstanding, and the seams here are few.
If Karate Kid has a flaw that keeps me from being completely enthusiastic about it, it would be the film’s refusal to pair itself down to a manageable length. This movie clocks in at around 2 and a half hours, and even though very little of it is boring –by the time we reach the tournament we don’t care so much—there’s some obvious sag in the middle sections and in the tacked on relationship between Dre and Meiying. In an effort to cover all their bases, the filmmakers may have packed the film too full, and it loses just a tad of the lithe simplicity of the original.
At the end of the day though, Karate Kid delivers both entertaining thrills and emotional wallop, and its likely to inspire younger audience members to pursue the martial arts. Very rarely can it be said that a remake turns out to be worth the time and effort poured into it. Karate Kid is that welcome exception to the rule.
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I can’t wait to take my daughter to see this movie. I really want to see it myself. I remember watching the orignal movie over and over. ( I had a big crush on Macchio) lol. We are going tonight.